The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1887-04-30
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Moral Effect Of Secret Societies.

naclo, taking for his text: Discover not
secret 10 another Prov, XIV, ..
IL appears that In Solomon's time, as
In all subsequent periods Of the world,
there were people too much disposed
10 tell all they knew. IL was blab,
blab. blab; physicians revealing the
case OF their patients, lawyers exposing
the private affairs Of their clients,
neighbors advertising the faults of the
next door resident, pretended friends
betraying condolences. One.half OF
the trouble of every community comes
from the fact that SO many people
have not capacity to keep their mouths
shut. When l hear something dis
paraging of you my first duty is not to-
tell you. But IL tell you what some
body has said against you, and then
90 out and tell everybody else what |
told you, and they go out and tell 9th
ers what told them that | told YOU,
and we all 60 out, some TO hunt up
the originator of the story and others
10 hunt IL down, we shall get the whole
community talking about what you
did not do, and there viii be as many
scalps taken as though band of
Modocs had swept upon a helpless
village.
We have two ears but only one
tongue, a physiological suggestion
that we ought 20 hear a good deal
more than we tell. Let us join con
spiracy that we will tell each other all
the good and nothing Of the i'll, and
then there will not be such awful need
OF sermons on Solomon's words:
Discover not n secret 90 another.
Solomon had very large domestic
circle. In his earlier days he had very
confused notions about monogamy
and polygamy, and his multitudinous
associates in the matrimonial state
kept him too well informed rs TO what
was going on in Jerusalem. They
gathered up all the priyacies of the
city and poured them into his ear, and
his family became a sorosis or female
debating society OF 700, discussing day
after day all the difficulties between
husbands and wives, between employ
ers and employees, between rulers and
subjects, until Solomon. in my text,
deplores yolubility about affairs that
do not belong TO us and extols the
virtue of sccretiyeness.
by the power of secret divulged,
families, churches. neighborhoods,
nations fly apart. BY the power Of
secret kept, great charities, socialities,
reformatory movements and Christian
enterprises may be advanced. Men
are gregarious-ca in herds, fish
in schools, birds in locks, men In social
circles. You may, by the discharge Of
a gun, scatter a flock OF quails, or by
the plunge Of the anchor send apart
the denizens of the sea, but they will
gather themselves together again. II
you, by some new power, could break
the associations in which men now
stand, they would again adhere. God
meant il so. He has gathered all the
flowers and shrubs into associations.
You may plant one forget me-not or
hearts ease alone, away off upon the
hillside. but IL will soon hunt up some
other forget me-not or hearts ease.
Plants love company. You will find
them talking to each other in the dew.
A galaxy OF stars is only mutual life
insurance company.
You sometimes see man with no
outbranchings of sympathy. His ma
ture is cold and hard like a ships
mast ice glazed. which the most agile
sailor could never climb. Others have
thousand roots and thousand
branches. Innumerable tendrils climb
their hearts, and blossom all the way
up, and the fowls Of heaven sing In
the branches. In consequence of this
tendency we find men coming to-
gcther in tribes, in communities, in
churches. in societies. Some gather
together TO cultivate the arts, some TO
plan for the welfare of the State, some
60 discuss religious themes, some Go
kindle their mirth, some 20 advance
their crafts. SO every active commu.
nifty Is divided into associations OF
artists, OF merchants, OF bookbinders,
of carpenters, of masons. OF plasterers,
OF shipwrights. Of plumbers. DO you
cry out against iti Then you cry out
against tendency divinely implanted.
Your Trades would accomplish no
more than IL you should preach 60 n
busy ant hill or bee hive a long sermon
against secret societies.
Here we find the oft discussed ques-
ton whether associations that do their
work with closed doors, and admit
their members bv passwords, and greet
each Cthcr with crct grip, are
ri1ht | answer that T. dnDands